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Finally got to see the film on DVD (local theaters only showed it twice a day, at the most inconvenient times). I thought it was really good. It did stray from the book, but not in a way that made me say "that's not right." I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride like when I watched "Star Wars" as a kid. It's really too bad that the movie was mis-marketed so terribly, because it is a really enjoyable sci-fi fantasy film the likes of which are not made anymore. All the kids even liked it and have been playing "John Carter" for the last few days.

They made some major changes here, starting with placing the Valley Dor in the crater of Olympus Mons. Will study this in greater detail later when I have the reference materials (Burroughs' and the topographic Mars map) handy.

They made some major changes here, starting with placing the Valley Dor in the crater of Olympus Mons. Will study this in greater detail later when I have the reference materials (Burroughs' and the topographic Mars map) handy.

I have done a bit of studyinh myself. . . some of hte locations seem placed fine . . . others it is very questionable . .. other itimes it seems like they just rotated the barsoomian locations :P

they also mispelled tjanath, aaanthor, and gathol . . .

it is a bit groan-worthy. . . but at the same time, I acknowledge the movie is a different universe . . . and literally this is the best map of an alien planet I have EVER seen, so even though it isnt barsoom . . . it is still an awesome map of an alien planet . . . and as a science fiction fan . . . I cant say no XD

Look at it this way. We've learned a lot about the real Mars in 100 years. Burroughs was basing his map on Percival Lowell's Martian maps, complete with canals, etc. The movie producers chose to try to retrofit Burroughs' map to the known features of the planet as it exists today.

Come to think of it, an overlay of Lowell's map of the canals on top of the real Mars map would be an interesting thing. There's also an altitude map/globe made by MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter) that shows the various low lying areas in deep blue, shallower areas in green etc., giving a nice impression of what Mars might have looked like with oceans and seas.